Three plays : Lawing and jawing

In Short

This volume presents three distinct one-act plays—Lawing and Jawing, Forty Yards, and Woofing—that function as vignettes of communal life. Moving from a surreal, satirical courtroom in Georgia to a boisterous football game in Washington, D.C., and finally to a dusty street corner where men pass time with checkers and music, the collection highlights the expressive power of oral tradition. These works have endured because they immortalize the specific cadence, humor, and resilient spirit of the folk culture the author spent her career documenting and preserving.

The Story

The collection opens with Lawing and Jawing, a satirical farce set in the makeshift court of Judge Dunfumy. The Judge is a capricious, ego-driven figure who treats his courtroom as a private kingdom. He presides over a series of absurd cases, including Cliff Mullins, a man accused of assaulting his wife, and a young man arrested for "vacancy" and possessing a deck of cards. The Judge is more interested in flirting with a pretty girl in the front row than administering justice, frequently issuing draconian sentences just to clear his schedule. Even when a lawyer attempts a grand, nonsensical defense using syllogisms and literary flourishes to justify a mule-stealing charge, the Judge remains unmoved, concerned only with his own whims. He closes court abruptly, more interested in escorting the young woman home than in the law.

The second play, Forty Yards, shifts the focus to the spectacle of a college football game between Howard and Lincoln Universities. The scene is a riotous display of school pride, featuring cheerleaders who whip the crowd into a frenzy and marching bands that fill the air with song. The play captures the sheer energy of the event, where the game itself becomes a choreographed dance. As the teams clash, the crowd’s singing—ranging from spirituals to school anthems—blends with the action on the field. The play concludes in a chaotic, high-stakes moment at the ten-yard line, where the tension between the two teams culminates in a final, collective huddle of song and spirit before the curtain falls.

The final piece, Woofing, returns to the porch-culture setting of Waycross, Georgia. The narrative centers on "Good Black," a man lounging on a porch while his wife works inside, ironing clothes for white families. The play is an intricate web of idle chatter, persistent domestic conflict, and competitive play. Good Black and his friend Cliffert engage in a drawn-out, agonizingly slow game of checkers, trading boasts and insults—a practice known as "woofing." The scene is punctuated by the wife’s repeated, weary demands that her husband finish his chores and the occasional intrusion of passersby. As Lonnie plays the guitar and the men debate the merits of their own "toughness," the game of checkers is eventually abandoned for a crap game. The play ends as a local band marches by, drawing the entire group away from the porch and into the street, leaving the domestic grievances of the morning behind.

How It Unfolds

The courtroom carnival Judge Dunfumy establishes his authority through intimidation and absurdity, openly favoring his own entertainment over the legal process. He treats the defendants as mere fodder for his own theatrical performance, dismissing logic in favor of his own eccentric mandates.

The gridiron ritual The scene shifts to the stadium, where the rival Howard and Lincoln teams transform a football match into a rhythmic, musical battle. The cheerleaders and spectators merge their voices into a singular, driving force that emphasizes communal identity over the individual sport.

The porch-side stalemate In the final act, the focus narrows to the languid, competitive tension of a Southern street corner. Good Black and Cliffert occupy their time with a checker game that serves as a stage for their verbal sparring and elaborate posturing.

The rhythm of the street The tension of domestic obligation is constantly undercut by the guitar music and the lure of the crap game. The play concludes when the arrival of a passing band breaks the cycle of the checkers game, drawing the men away from their arguments and into the wider, collective movement of the street.

The People

Judge Dunfumy is the central, bombastic authority figure in the first play. He is driven by a desire for total control and the attention of women, viewing his courtroom as a stage for his own ego rather than a place of justice.

Cliff Mullins is a man caught in the crosshairs of the law and his own domestic struggles. He is desperate to avoid punishment but lacks the tools to navigate the Judge’s mercurial temper, eventually disappearing into the "shade" of the jail.

Good Black acts as the archetype of the idle, boastful man who avoids labor at all costs. He is defined by his commitment to his leisure—the checker game and his "woofing"—and his constant, deflective defense against his wife’s demands.

The Wife represents the backbone of the household, providing the necessary labor while dealing with a husband who refuses to contribute. She is a woman of strong will, constantly pushing for the dignity and responsibility that her husband lacks.

Cliffert is Good Black’s sparring partner, sharing his obsession with the game and the art of verbal competition. He is just as quick to boast of his own prowess as he is to abandon his post when a more exciting distraction, like the marching band, arrives.

In Its Own Voice

"I'd give a canary bird twenty years for peckin' at a elephant."

The Judge uses this hyperbolic threat to establish the terrifying, arbitrary atmosphere of his courtroom.

"I'm a tolo-shaker from my head on down / Well yo' may go, but this will bring yo' back."

Good Black sings these lyrics to assert his own sense of self-worth and appeal, even as he neglects his domestic responsibilities.

"You're so ugly till they could throw yo' in de Mississippi River and skim ugly for six months."

This exchange between men on the porch illustrates the playful yet biting nature of "woofing," where insults become a refined form of social currency.

What It's Really About

The work is a meditation on the power of the vernacular. It explores how language—the "jawing," the "woofing," and the singing—serves as a primary mode of survival and self-expression. Beneath the humor of the courtroom and the porch, there is an inquiry into the tension between the crushing, external structures of authority and the internal, creative freedom of the community. The plays argue that through art, music, and the mastery of speech, individuals can carve out a space of their own, even when trapped in cycles of poverty, legal harassment, or domestic discord. It is a portrait of a culture that transforms the mundane into the performative.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in the evolution of African American literature will find these plays essential for their preservation of early 20th-century Southern dialect and oral traditions. They offer a rare, unvarnished look at the social dynamics of the period, where humor acts as a shield against systemic indifference. However, a modern reader must be prepared for the challenges inherent in the text. The phonetic spelling of the dialect can be demanding, and the period attitudes toward women and justice are often jarring. The Judge’s casual abuse of power and the domestic friction between husbands and wives reflect the harsh realities of the era, which the author presents without moralizing or apology.

What stays with you is the sheer, kinetic energy of the writing. These are not static works meant only for the page; they practically vibrate with the sounds of marching bands, guitar picking, and the rhythmic banter of the street. If you enjoy literature that functions as an anthropological record as much as a dramatic work, you will appreciate the warmth and precision with which these scenes are rendered. Reading them feels like listening to a living, breathing history, one that refuses to be forgotten even when the settings themselves have long since faded.